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Anorak question - 3A grilles...


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12 hours ago, MilesA said:

... the apertures in the grilles were bigger than the modern reproductions as often claimed.

The reproduction grilles are complete dreck (IMHO) as far as the openings are concerned.  Here's the original grille on my TR3B next to one of the better(!) modern reproductions from a few years ago.

i-tpgMBVV-X5.jpg

i-R5F8X3V-X5.jpg

Here's a NOS original grille, probably from several years before my 3B's was made and the tooling was still crisper.  Note the fine detailing around the crank opening.  Compare that to the photos above.

i-dWhQkQm-X5.jpg

 

And best of all, here's how the factory modded the grilles for the 1959 TR3S cars at LeMans.  Paul Hogan has done a similar mod for his tribute car, and it's on the list for a spare grille I have here.  It looks better, and fershure would let more air through.

i-cMHtmFB-X5.jpg

 

Edited by Don H.
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I have the origonal grille on my 3A and it is flat. I have driven the car in 40°C over here with no overheating problems, although thanks to Andrew Smith I do have a tropical fan on my car

cheers

Alan

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This is Tony back with Q & A...

First the question: Why oh why OH why am I coming back to this on a gloriously sunny Friday afternoon back ‘home’ in Surrey? 

 

The only semi-reasonable answer I can think of is that a proper - as per subject title - anorak question requires the suitably correct ‘pendantic anorak answer’ to bring this to closure(?)!

 

Therefore, ref Don’s pictures above (very and conclusively clear in his middle photo) and all the other photo evidence that original grill DOES curve - albeit marginally - inwards, both vertically and horizontally, towards the middle...eg lay an original (unmolested) grill face upwards on a flat surface and both ends, towards the side-light fittings will be noted to be curled upwards..

Or, equally as per below photo, if you do not have the time or inclination to detach the grill from the car a spirit-level (so long as you are not at sea on a boat etc) is also conclusive.

E35DEF36-3E20-42D6-80F0-1DB3B2826EF1.thumb.jpeg.406f6c3406c619b400bb1857e9edf64d.jpeg

06304984-8F19-4909-81E9-D7EF64677F8E.thumb.jpeg.ddf0128b15418f58b91a1ea91d63d882.jpeg

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The middle photo in my collection above should not be taken as an example of what's "correct"  Sure, it's the grille from my car, which I've owned since 1981, but before I got it the car had been in a big, badly-repaired shunt.  The shroud one sees now is not the original -- I know that for a fact, 'cause I know the car it came from.  The grille my car came with is certainly not the original, and has been fitted to at least two aprons during collision repair and during restoration over the years.  There's every possibility, and likelihood in fact, that it's been fooled around with regarding bowing.

My grille in the second image was shown to illustrate apertures, not flatness.

Edited by Don H.
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OK.... 

On a final, final note.... Interesting that the percent of flat grills on this thread are almost exactly proportional to the same old flat earth believers brigade....

Believe me, the earth is not flat... Ive sailed around it a few times and never gone over the edge! 

This is clearly a much, much, much bigger issue that needs to be addressed....

Namely, If this was the ‘wind-up window section(s) of the forum then this would never happen: “Of course Michelotti with his Italian flair for design would not be questioned, same for the ‘6’ who would ever doubt Teutonic efficiency...

However, when a couple of Brits design the original side-screen cars, with no budget, on the back of a beer mat down the pub getting the gentle curves on the grill so perfect from every angle you could look - why will some never move past “flat”?

 

On a serious note to finish Don, you will surely be aware that this grill was originally known as the ‘Dollar Grin $$$$’ and everyone who drove the car how it was meant to be driven managed to shunt the front end, usually sooner than later...

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